March 23, 2010

I have been seething for days.

Normally I do not use this blog as a forum for any kind of discussion of current political events. I have friends of all different political ideologies and I am not prepared to debate any of my personal beliefs in this kind of forum.

About all I will say is I am a moderate person politically who sees lots of gray in life and have voted for both Republican and Democratic candidates. I USED to consider myself Politically Incorrect.

The events of this past weekend during the final part of the health care debate in the House of Representatives has finally made me say something.

I don’t care what your views on the issues are but I want to know when it became acceptable to shout derogatory remarks at elected officials of this country in the halls of congress?

John Lewis -One of the major participants in this country’s civil rights movement having to endure being called the “N” word.

Barney Frank – Homophobic epitaphs being unleashed at one of our senior elected officials.

I have been to congress and felt as if I was in a special place. Name calling of this sort is improper anywhere but especially so in the halls of congress.

The Tea Party demonstrators claim to love our country but do they even respect it and it’s institutions?

I am a firm believer in political activism and questioning the actions of our elected officials. But do we really want to become a country of such severe hate towards others whose beliefs may be different from our own?

How can there be dialogue with actions like these.

The Tea Party claims their dissatisfaction with our President is not racially or hate motivated and me with my “Pollyanna” view of things believed this. I thought they were just acting from a place of fear.

February 24, 2010

All I will divulge here is that it was unhappiness with the direction and organization of the state organization. She had given up on having any influence in the national party YEARS AGO.

This is someone who has been a lifelong supporter of Republican politics and is a true loss for this group. I am sure they didn’t notice or care, which is truly a shame.

My mother has been active in Republican politics since the late 50’s early 60’s. Her political activism started in Houston, Texas back when “Republican” was still a dirty word in Texas. She was a Block Captain, worked on the first congressional campaign of George Herbert Walker Bush (aka Old Man Bush) even dancing with him once at a party function. At the time I was born, my parents received congratulatory letters from both future president Bush and one of his staffers someone named James Baker.

She was a Goldwater Republican. Kept up appearances by publically supporting Richard Nixon through the Watergate scandal – “he wasn’t doing anything different than anybody else, he just got caught” was the party line in our house.

The funniest incident involving her political activism was during the 1976 campaign of Gerald Ford. When our house was being inundated by mailings on a daily basis from both the Republican Party and the Ford campaign. We received a phone call that began with the caller saying “this is Betty Ford” my mother’s response was “really?” Well the call was from Betty Ford but it was from the Betty Ford who lived in our neighborhood and wanted me to mow her yard, notTHE Betty Ford. I think she is disappointed to this day.

Her glory days were the Reagan years – she was in heaven! Not a bad word could be said about Nancy or Ronnie. She absolutely worshipped them. My parents even hosted viewing parties for his initial Televison addresses.

Of course there was support of the senior George Bush during his campaigns and presidencies. She attended the state conventions in the late 90’s and 2000 even acting as a state delegate for Lamar Alexander.